Become As I Am!, Part 3

April 3, 2011 Pastor: John Fonville Series: Galatians

Scripture: Galatians 4:12–4:20

Become As I Am!

Part 3

 

Text: Galatians 4:12-20

April 3, 2011

 

Review/Introduction:

 

I. The Galatians’ previous attitude toward Paul signified their acceptance of Christ and the gospel. vv. 12b-14

 

Reflection:

 

1.            Those who are free desire for others to be free.

 

2.            Our weakness is not an obstacle to the gospel but rather its occasion.

 

3.            Pastors should not be assessed by worldly standards.

 

“Ministers should not be judged by their ability, appearance, personality, popularity, or any other standards ordinarily used to judge them. Ministers should be evaluated primarily by their faithfulness to the Word of God. If they are faithful, then to welcome their message is to welcome Christ Himself” (Galatians, p. 175).

 

“…the law and gospel are the chief and general divisions of the holy scriptures, and comprise the entire doctrine comprehended therein. 2. Christ himself makes this division of the doctrine which he will have preached in his name, when he says, “Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day; and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name” (Lk. 24:46-47)…this embraces the entire substance of the law and gospel” (Zacharias Ursinus, Commentary on the Heidelberg Catechism, p. 2).

 

“The most important and fundamental role of the pastor is to preach the Gospel clearly. Whether your church is 6 months old or 60 years old, whether the pastor has 5 years or 50 years of experience, whether the church has 5 or 5000 members, preaching will always be primary because the church is distinguished from the world by living on every word that comes from the mouth of God (Matt. 4:4)” (Mark Dever, The Deliberate Church, p. 89).

 

 

© John Fonville

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